A little meeting.

Thomas hummed to himself as he went into the library. He'd been doing pretty well the past few days. It looked like his Third year would be one of his best yet really. Thomas wandered down a couple of rows of books, and ended up with a fair few tomes in his hands, a couple on charms, one on Potions and another one in Transfiguration for spell books, he had a couple story books too. Muggle ones ironically enough, but they had been in his book collection for years, so he kept them anyway.

He found an empty table and sat down at it, opening one book and taking his quill, ink and parchment and writing a few notes while he was at it. He was pretty sure today was just going to be a quiet day, so thankfully he wouldn't need the mask. He grinned slightly at the thought. Sure, the act was fun, but it wasn't always the best thing to keep up, it was still there though. He stopped reading the spell books for now, he could find more out on the subjects later. He looked at the couple of his own books he had brought. He opened 'Ghosts of Ascalon'. Sure it wasn't the best read, but it would do for now... He didn't want any of his better books to be damaged or stolen after all.

After a few minutes he was deeply immersed in his book, which meant he didn't hear the footsteps towards him...

Andy had stopped off on the fourth floor briefly to return a textbook when he saw a familiar figure, sitting at one of the empty desks near the back of the library. He deliberated going over to him, as this was the Library and what Andy wanted to say probably wasn't going to stay at a hushed tone for very long. He fought with the inner voice that was telling him this wasn't the time, finally pushing it aside and walking up to the Slytherin boy.

"Oi," he said, "I think you and I need to have a talk." He looked around, seeing that Hudson wasn't far off and looked particularly grumpy. "In the corridor. Now." He didn't want to risk getting a detention for something that could take place a few metres away.

Thomas resisted the urge to jump or look shocked at all as he turned around. He noticed the guy and remembered him as Anthony, he'd met him in class a couple of times... Over the last couple of years that was. "Oh?" he asked, the mask going up quickly. "If you want to say something. Tell me here, I'm hardly about to dance to your tune." He scoffed. Meanwhile, the other part of his mind was trying to figure out why he was angry at him. He hadn't really got on many peoples nerves yet, meaning Anthony must be mad about someone else... He couldn't think of who though. He leaned back on his chair slightly. "Well? Speak up already." He sneered.

Andy crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the boy, his eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath in and remembered his promise. He'd have to keep that promise firmly in mind if he was to leave keeping it. He didn't want to have this conversation in the middle of the library, but Celare seemed adamant about staying there for the time being. It took all of Andy's self-discipline not to take him by the robes and drag him out of there.

"I happen to hear about your encounter with Brianna Carter," was all he said, not trusting himself to add a long list of profanities starting with, you little....

Thomas quirked an eyebrow and smirked at the internal war Anthony seemed to be having. Meant this could be a lot easier than he thought. He waited for a while, it would be more interesting to see what he did after his internal conflict after all. He kept watching, Andy seemed to be pretty good at containing himself after all. "Oh really now?" he asked.

It all clicked together now, he remembered his little encounter with Brianna Carter. It was pretty funny for him, though he'd felt pretty bad after. There was no chance he was admitting this to Andy though, Allison would hear and then he'd be killed in the dorms. "I take it you mean the stupid girl gawking at the people in the Duelling Arena, all slack-jawed and how she looked like she'd just been hit over the head?" He asked, partially baiting him, partially just sticking to the mask.

Andy's hands balled into fists upon hearing what the Slytherin had to say. He could tell he was getting angrier and angrier by the second and had to keep repeating the words, 'you promised', over and over again to still himself. Andy briefly closed his eyes and then opened them quickly.

"I want you to apologise to her," Andy said through gritted teeth. "What you said to her then and about her just now, was deplorable and completely uncalled for, and I won't sit idly by and let you get away with it." He was thankful for his growth spurt over the summer which hopefully put him at a height advantage against the Slytherin should it come to a grudge match.

Thomas kept the smirk on his face, maybe he was wrong seeing as Anthony seemed pretty close to losing it already. He kept watching him still, just in case he was about to lash out or something similar. He realized the guy was taller than him, but at least it wasn't by too much, so he wouldn't be too bad if things degraded into a fist-fight. He had a few tricks up his sleeves already though if he needed it.

He laughed at the idea of apologizing to her. "You really want me to apologize to that stupid cow? I'd really rather not seeing as she might actually become even more childish afterwards. So I think you'll have to just 'sit idly by' because, to put it nice and simply for you. You can't force me to." He smirked. "Why are you so upset about this anyway?" He queried, trying to throw him off balance slightly.

Andy tried to not let the words affect him, but just hearing them drip from the Slytherin's mouth made him want to... No... Andy thought. Bri's words from the Room of Requirement flashed through his mind.

"You're a Ravenclaw, we fight with words, not fists."

"That's it," he said, and grabbed the Slytherin by the collar and pulled him from his seat. He then walked at a steady pace towards the door of the library, barging through it, not at all caring that the Librarian looked ready to burst a blood vessel.

He shoved the Slytherin away from him, as if that small amount of contact tainted him. "You wanna know why I'm so upset about this?" he asked, his voice very cold and barely more than a whisper. He moved closer to the boy. "You insult my girlfriend, and you insult me. Got that?" Andy hadn't referred to Bri as his girlfriend before, but now that he said it, he liked it.

(Permission to GM)

Thomas blinked for a moment, and he was grabbed by the collar and forced out to the corridor. "Little Ravenclaw scared the librarian will get all mad?" He taunted. Part of him was shouting at him and trying to tell him he was being an idiot, but the dominant part right now was the part with the mask. One thing he could tell was that the rational part of Anthony's mind was mostly out the window now.

He just listened to him, trying to not laugh. "I wonder if you know how much a fool you look right now. You probably think you're so scary, but trust me, you aren't." He said. "But I suppose it makes sense now, little girly can't fight her own battles can she? Well I don't think you're all that good fighting them for her either." He said. He felt pretty good that he still had his cool while Andy had just about completely lost it. "That everything now?" he asked, neatening out his collar, before looking at Anthony to make sure he didn't try anything more before he had a chance to react, while keeping his gaze full of disdain, as if he was some sort of infection.

Andy pressed his lips together, his resolve strengthened by anger. A resolve that obviously only Andy could only see and understand. His fist were so tightly curled, he could feel his fingernails cutting into his palm. Andy, almost at his wits end, finally shook his head. The Slytherin obviously wasn't going to apologise anytime soon, and the more time Andy spent in his presence, the more his blood boiled. Andy was still rather angry, an anger that would probably last quite a while, but he didn't to act upon it. It was an almost bittersweet feeling but, seeing clearly now, Andy knew that he was a Ravenclaw and he knew better than to tarnish that.

"You know what?" he asked, although he wasn't wanting an answer. "I'm done." He raised his hands as if to wash them clean of the boy. "I've said what I needed to say. I'm not going to say anything else." Andy walked past him, feeling proud that he hadn't done anything stupid, although the idea of giving that punk arse a shiner was very tempting.

Thomas rolled his eyes at how annoyed Anthony was getting over such a little thing. The girl was acting like a cow who'd had her head bashed in and he had to point that out. He smirked at how mad he seemed to be getting, obviously Ravenclaws were easy targets. "Aren't you meant to be in the Hospital Wing? The poorly little Ravenclaw couldn't get up? Maybe you should be heading back there now before you faint from standing up too long." He said acidly, before smirking.

"Okay then, have fun laying in bed because you're obviously oh so ill." He said, before an idea popped into his head, he grabbed his wand and aimed it at Anthony. "On second thoughts, maybe you should stay where you are." He said, before chanting. "Locomotor Mortis." Aiming it straight at Anthony from behind.

Andy heard Thomas speaking, but he was well and truly done with even associating with the Slytherin and wouldn't let his words taunt him any longer. He just wasn't worth it. Andy was doing well, and nearly made it to the corridor corner, when he suddenly fell forward, his legs unable to move. At first he thought he had tripped over something and then he thought that perhaps he had collapsed from exhaustion. He didn't have much time to reflect on how he had fallen though, because a short while later, Andy could move his legs again.

He scrabbled up in time to see Thomas with his wand pointed in his direction and all Andy's Ravenclaw ways of thinking were pushed far from his mind, the space it once occupied was now taken up by a resolve to beat the living hell out of this Slytherin. To attack someone with their back turn was lowest of low, and as Andy stormed his way towards the boy, the though of using magic to fight back wasn't even a consideration. As soon as Andy was near enough, he swung his fist back and punched Thomas in the jaw as hard as he could muster.

Thomas felt pretty accomplished when he saw Anthony fall and hit the ground, but felt a little deflated when he was able to get back up. He'd hoped he'd stay on the ground, but obviously he hadn't put enough strength into the spell. he was about to use it again, but Anthony was already getting too close too fast, he took the time to take a couple steps back to get his wand back into his pocket. He didn't want it to break after all, and started to raise his hands to block before he felt a fist collide with his jaw. He took another step back, dazed slightly, but tried to jab his elbow into Anthony's stomach to buy him more time.

Andy felt a sense of accomplishment when his fist met jaw. He was about to turn to walk away again but felt an excruciating pain in his stomach. Andy groaned and doubled over from the pain. That little SOB... he thought, trying to catch his breath, but each inhale was like a knife was going through his back.

After a few moments, Andy chanced standing up tall, his anger now replacing the pain in his stomach. He hadn't been out of the Hospital Wing for very long, so having a full blown elbow to the gut probably wasn't the best idea. He stared at the Slytherin in surprise. He hadn't really expected the boy to retaliate so fast.

Thomas smirked at the fact he'd hit Anthony, and quickly stood up, not so dazed now. He got his vision to re-focus properly after his knock to his jaw. He stepped back again, trying to catch his own breath seeing as he didn't expect the first attack, before swinging a fist at Anthony's face, and then sending another jab to his stomach. If he could keep him winded, then he would have a clear advantage. "Ravenclaw doesn't know any spells? Is he really that dense?" he taunted, trying to push him into a bigger rage. If he did that then he'd not have any rational thought. Another advantage.

Andy knew that he was doomed the moment he got involved in a fist fight. Hell, his sister could beat him at an arm wrestle. He wasn't built for brawn.

He felt his lip crack open at the collision of Thomas' fist to his jaw. Andy's brain didn't have time to formulate a response in time, as Celare's next blow took him in the gut again. Andy was on the ground again, the impact of the stomach jab causing blood from Merlin knows where to appear in his mouth. He spat it out, seeing it pool on the corridor floor beside him. Andy knew there was no way he'd be getting up from this. He could hardly breathe. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, seeing the trail of blood left there. Andy knew enough to know that he'd have some sort of internal bleeding if he was coughing up blood, but if it was due to just the punch, or a combination of his previous infirmity and the blow, he wasn't sure.

He heard the retort from the Slytherin's mouth, but couldn't move or say anything. He was in a world of pain and half wished for the blackness to take him so that he didn't have to feel it anymore.

Bri was headed to the library and walked around the corner just in time to see Andy get hit in the jaw and then the abdomen. Without thinking twice, she rushed over to them, ignoring Thomas completely. She dropped to her knees beside Andy, avoiding the small pool of blood that he had just spit out. She didn't want to fawn over him too much, to avoid bruising his ego in front of the clearly sadistic Slytherin. "Andy, we need to get you to the Hospital Wing," she said softly.

She took his face in her hands to inspect the damage. He already had a nice bruise forming on his jaw and his lip was split. She dabbed at it gently with the edge of her sleeve as she was getting increasingly more pissed off with Thomas, who was standing behind her. "It really wasn't enough that you had to upset me? Now you have to go and make things harder for even more people?" she asked scathingly over her shoulder. She didn't expect an answer, nor did she really care if she got one. Her primary focus was keeping Andy conscious enough to get him down to the Hospital Wing.

Thomas smirked slightly after seeing the damage he had inflicted onto the Ravenclaw. He'd been the one to start it in effect. So it was only fair that this is what happened to him right? He noticed the blood Anthony coughed out. He shouldn't have been coughing blood, but then, he hardly cared. It was his fault for getting into the fight. He shrugged to himself, the piece of regret he had from it dissolving into nothing, he'd been threatened so he had held his own.

Thomas blinked when Brianna appeared. "Ickle Ravenclaw come to save her boyfriend has she?" He taunted. He was the one that started it really, if he hadn't pushed him into the corridor, it would've never happened. "His own fault. Not mine. Though I doubt you'll even believe me. As for upsetting you, you left yourself open to that, you might even learn something from it and remember to not go gawking next time." He stated coldly. He wasn't going to take the blame for something he had started, but then again, he hardly cared. "Good Luck getting him to stand up, the moron might actually need to be in the Hospital Wing now." He added, rumours were flying that Anthony was only in there so he didn't have to do anything and got lots of sympathy. Idiot. Was all Thomas could think of him.

"The moron might actually need to be in the Hospital Wing now."

Maybe it was because of the extreme disrespect that the Slytherin seemed to be harboring, maybe it was because he didn't seem to care at all that he had just hurt someone else, maybe it was because Bri still felt a little guilty about what had happened in the Forest, but she stood up without realizing it, turned around and slapped Thomas across the face.

"He almost died, as if you cared about anyone but yourself," she tried to keep her voice as even as possible. She could feel tears of anger starting to build up but she couldn't cry right then; she needed to get Andy back to the Hospital Wing. "Why don't you just go back down to the dungeons and gloat about your victory while I take him back to the Hospital Wing to see if you've done him any further internal injury?"

She turned her back to Thomas once more and bent down, hooking one arm under Andy's and around him. "Andy, please, I need you to just try. I can't carry you there, you have to help," she said quietly, helping him stagger unsteadily to his feet.

Thomas kept the smirk on his face for a moment, before he felt something collide with his head, namely Brianna's hand. He had to admit that it hurt like hell and part of his face was now a bright red. He didn't care at the moment though. He just stood there, shocked.

What have I just done? His mind screamed at him. What on Earth had compelled him to do all that? In fact, what had convinced him to do any of this from the start? He felt like a complete and utter idiot, which was definitely not a good feeling. He stood right where he was, paralysed for the moment. Each and every one of the words Brianna said cut right through him. They pierced right through the mask, and it shattered.

"I-I'm sorry..." He whispered, realising just how much of a complete and utter demon he'd been acting like... He was still human, and he had his limits. This whole situation was just the limit of how far he could go. He took a half-step towards the two, wordlessly offering help, though he knew he would likely just be told to go bother someone else.

Alli walked out of the library just in time to see Thomas punch some boy in the jaw, then the gut. She stood paralyzed for a moment and wondered if she'd created a monster. She'd never meant for Tom to actually cause anyone physical harm. A girl ran up, tried to help the boy, then slapped Tom, leaving Alli in shock.

When she had regained the ability to think, Tom was whispering apologies, but Alli predicted that wouldn't lead to anything good and she finally moved from her spot half in and half out of the door to the library. She stepped between Tom and the two Ravenclaws, facing Tom. "Common room. Go," she told him sternly.

Of all the things in the world that Tom could have done, he chose then to apologize. Bri didn't buy it for a second. She didn't have any reason to. "Don't you think you've done enough damage for one day?" she glared at Thomas while she tried to help Andy to his feet. "Just do what your commander says and go away." She would have felt bad for being so rude, but he'd hurt Andy and she didn't really feel like being considerate of Tom's feelings at that exact moment.

Thomas bit his lip when Alli appeared. This was definitely turning from bad to worse. He didn't take another step forward, Alli being in the way meant he couldn't anyway. He still wanted to help though, so didn't move back until Brianna wanted him gone too. He glanced again at Andy, and hoped he hadn't done too much, before mumbling. "Fine," and walking off. He supposed he could understand why Brianna didn't trust him, but he still felt a little wounded about the fact that he hadn't been believed.

He sighed to himself when he reached the third floor. He had completely messed things up now. Obviously him and good luck didn't mix. He kept walking though, until he reached the Common Rooms. He was dead now, he knew that much.

Alli waited for Tom to leave before turning around to survey the complete damage. The small pool of blood on the stone floor was enough to tell her everything that she needed to know. She couldn't offer any actual help at the risk of being seen by someone who would think more of it than it was, but she resolved to send a teacher along to help the girl get the boy to the Hospital Wing. She gave the pair of Ravenclaws the most sympathetic look she could without seeming like a total sap, then turned around to head down to the Slytherin Common Room to have a little chat with Tom.